


Until later... Doesn't always come

by threading_in_dreams



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, i might continue this later, it was supposed to be more romantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-17 01:58:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21046424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/threading_in_dreams/pseuds/threading_in_dreams
Summary: The Doctor never expected to have a chance meeting with Romana, not after such a long time.





	Until later... Doesn't always come

**Author's Note:**

> This is originally posted in my tumblr, but it's not like tumblr is very trustworthy so I decided to post here and ended up writing a little bit more.

The Doctor knew something was off the moment she stepped out of the Tardis. This was supposed to be the Risa’s orbital station, a sort of spaceport and immigration service slash administration building, the front door for the famous pleasure planet. It was built so that tourists could be transmatted from orbit into their chosen spots and also to avoid unbalancing the ecosystem of any part of the planet with sudden overpopulation.

Of course she could have parked the Tardis directly into any empty beach and be enjoying a swim right now, but she wanted to give the fam the right experience. It was their first family vacation, after all, it was only proper if they got into some lines and breathed some recycled air before getting to the good bits. But the air was staler then expected and there were no vibrations from the floor. As far as she knew, that station was dead.

“I can never quite get a vacation, can I?” She said to no one in particular.

“Something wrong, Doctor?” Graham said, looking around at the tourists sitting on every available surface, including their luggage, some of them seemingly asleep.

“Just a tiny bit of orbital decay and struggling life-support systems, it seems.” The Doctor said, waving her sonic around to get some readings.

“Well, people don’t seem specially worried, just bored. It feels like an airport in the holidays after they’ve announced all planes are delayed.” Graham said after looking around a bit more.

"Oh no, don't tell me we'll be stuck here." Ryan said, stepping closer.

"That is what you're worried about? What about what the Doctor said about the life-support systems?" Yaz said.

“It’s nothing that will kill us very fast. Nevertheless I’d like to take a look at the systems’ readings.” She said, walking towards a nondescript door marked Employees Only. “This way.”

They made their way into the bowels of the station, looking for anything similar to a systems control unit, but didn’t get very far before a technician spotted them. The Doctor did her usual “Hello I’m the Doctor” routine and the usual miracle of collaboration happened.

“Oh, no you don’t have to worry about that.” The technician said as they walked. “We were a bit short on personnel, but one of the tourists is a Time Lady and she said she’ll fix us up in no time.” He said, nodding towards a blond figure in the distance, which seemed to be immersed in repairs.

“Time Lady?” The Doctor said, following the tech’s indication with a frown.  
A petite blond woman in a long frock coat stood next to one of the wall panels that gave access to the station systems, a ream of wires held in teeth while she fixed one of the parts with a sonic screwdriver.

“Blimey, it’s like seeing double!“ Graham said, slightly louder than needed. The woman certainly heard.

As she turned around, it was as if emotions flooded the Doctor from the top down. Her scrunched eyebrows first raised up in surprise, then a mad gleam passed into her eyes and she smiled. Next thing anyone saw was the Doctor charging into the woman and picking her up in an embrace, wires and tools flying everywhere as she enthusiastically spinned her around.

"Romanadvoratrelundar, I can’t believe it!” She said, as the woman extricated herself from the hug, pushing the Doctor a proper arm’s length away. The Doctor instead held her by the shoulders and kept talking. “I thought I’d never see you again after I left you in the Gateway. I was so worried! How did you get out of E-space? Where have you been all this time?”.

Midway through this onslaught Romana had stopped trying to step away from the strange woman and started staring at her, as if in recognition.

“Doctor?” She said, reaching out to touch her cheek, as if to test if the person before her was real.

The Doctor smiled more broadly and nodded.

“You look amazing!” Romana said, holding the Doctor’s hands and stepping back to look at her. “But I heard you were gone, there are rumours…”

“Oh, you know how it goes.” 

"They said you were on your last regeneration!" Romana said, lowering her tone.

"I got a new cycle." The Doctor whispered, theatrically, using the moment to approach Romana once more.

"So you did. I assume there is one hell of a story behind that." Romana said.

"There is and it doesn't matter. You were in another universe last time we met and now you're here." The Doctor said, cupping her hand on Romana's cheek and gazing into her face like she was trying to memorize her features.

"Technically, I was in the space between universes." Romana said, dodging the Doctor's eyes. The Doctor had always been intense, but there was strange new intensity and she had no idea what to think of that. Too many memories resurfacing, too many feelings long forgotten.

"You were with me and then you weren't and I never got to say..." The Doctor was lost in her own memories and didn't notice, or maybe didn't care that every other person in the room was intently watching their exchange. But Romana did notice and care. She once more stepped away from the Doctor's hold, giving her a wide open but slightly hollow smile.

“We have so much catching up to do! I heard the craziest story about you being Lord President again!” She said, making a point of looking around, like she was just noticing the crowd around them. "And who are your friends?".

“Oh, of course." The Doctor said running a hand through her hair. "These are Graham, Ryan and Yaz. Gang, this is Romana. We used to travel together." They all said their hellos. Graham making a point of shaking Romana's hand, Ryan and Yaz just nodding. The Doctor did notice Yaz was a bit stiff, but chalked it up to shyness. Romana had always been gorgeous, after all.

"Well, first, let’s see what we can do for this station.” The Doctor said, nodding towards the panel with its spilt innards. 

"We'll catch up later." Romana said, slightly relieved, and started making sense of the mess the Doctor had made of her tools.

As they walked away, the Doctor heard Ryan whisper something to Yaz about her being old enough to have a pack of ex-girlfriends. Humans are always so worried about the names of their relationships that they sometimes forget to enjoy them, but maybe the label fit. Maybe.


End file.
